Beijing prosecutors ramp up efforts in environmental cases

Beijing prosecutors have stepped up efforts in environmental public interest litigation, using advanced technologies to improve case-handling efficiency, the People's Procuratorate of Beijing Municipality said last week.

Since 2023, the capital's prosecutors have handled 2,924 public interest cases focusing on environmental protection. Key areas included promoting green development, safeguarding arable land, and regulating the car-washing industry, according to the procuratorate.

Given the challenges in gathering evidence and conducting on-site investigations in environmental public interest litigation, prosecutors have been encouraged to adopt data-driven and intelligent methods to boost work efficiency, it said.

For instance, more than 40 big data models have been developed and used by city prosecutors since last year. These models mainly address issues such as illegal dumping of construction waste, illegal mining, water resource protection, and waste disposal in the automotive repair sector. As a result, prosecutors across the city have uncovered over 3,000 environmental violation clues, accounting for 80 percent of all clues in environmental public interest litigation, the procuratorate said.

Through such litigation, prosecutors have also protected more than 600 acres of damaged and polluted land, facilitated the removal of 35,000 tons of domestic and solid waste, pushed for the shutdown or rectification of over 20 polluting enterprises, and promoted the installation of water-recycling facilities in more than 110 car-washing businesses.

The procuratorate added that prosecutors have been empowered to seek greater compensation for environmental damage to better restore ecosystems.